Second-half surge lifts Dukes to win vs. old foe
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Duquesne's Eric Evans, right, drives on Penn State's Matt Glover. Evans had 20 points in the Dukes' win.
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Duquesne owned the court in the second half Saturday night, beating Penn State, 66-59, at Consol Energy Center.
Down, 32-29, at the half, the Dukes responded with a commanding 11-0 run in the first six minutes of the second half predicated off what they do best -- forcing turnovers, scoring on the fastbreak, and contesting every shot and pass like crazy.
From there, the Dukes shot 52 percent in the second half, forced 13 Penn State turnovers, and clamped down for the program's first win against the Nittany Lions since 1992 in front of 7,046.
"First half we weren't really playing Duquesne basketball," said guard Eric Evans, who had a team-high 20 points. "We were sluggish, not getting loose balls. At halftime we got together, talked. We knew we had to come out in the first five minutes real strong. We were able to get a lot of loose balls and it helped us win."
Frustrated by a loss to Robert Morris last week that had dropped the Dukes to 5-4, coach Ron Everhart said his team was "licking its wounds."
They struggled scoring in the first half, hitting just 30.8 percent, and weren't playing with the necessary intensity.
"I personally told them in the locker room we were licking our wounds and feeling sorry about us because of our last game," Everhart said. "I firmly believe that's what happened to us. [Second half] they just came out. We found five guys eventually that were going to be the buy-in team guys and that's what we'll continue to do."
The halftime speech worked.
Two 3-pointers by Eric Evans and T.J. McConnell pulled the Dukes even at 35-35 just 1:33 into the half.
Sean Johnson scored on a layup inside, faking a pass out to the perimeter under pressure, then pivoting back to the basket to finish an 8-3 run and go up, 37-35.
But it was a key 11-0 run when Duquesne went from trailing, 39-37, to taking a 46-39 lead with 13:37 to play that made the difference.
In the run three steals turned into scores on the fastbreak: a steal by Evans turned into a layup by McConnell, another steal by Jerry Jones turned into a layup by Evans, and a third steal by McConnell led to a layup by Jones to make it 48-39.
Penn State pushed within four points late, but Duquesne hit 3 of 4 free throws to hold off the charge.
Jones scored a career-high14 points off of a career-high 23 minutes, and the Dukes got 10 points from Johnson, and nine rebounds from B.J. Monteiro.
"It's easier when we're getting up and down," Evans said. "That's Duquesne basketball. We get on a run and push it."
Penn State, which was coming off a 61-57 loss to Lafayette, was forced into 23 turnovers.
"They sped us up," Penn State coach Patrick Chambers said. "When you're in a tight game and you're on the road you get a little nervous. ... We've got to learn how to finish games. We have those stretches too much. ... Those five-minute stretches that are difficult to come back from."
The Dukes went with a different look Saturday night, starting 7-foot-1 center Martins Abele of Latvia in place of Andre Marhold.
But Abele quickly got into foul trouble, getting called for two fouls just 2:22 into the game.
The two teams traded multiple leads before Jones hit a 3-pointer to make it 24-22, on pass kicked out by McConnell, who had a lane to the basket.
By the half Penn State held the edge at 32-29, scored 10 points off second-chance shots and held Duquesne to just four points off the fastbreak.
"I thought the defensive effort we had late in the first half saved us. That could've easily been a 10- or 12-point difference," Everhart said. "That was huge."
Duquesne held leading scorer Tim Frazier to 15 points.
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NOTES -- Penn State holds a 24-19 lead in a series that dates to 1924. The two teams stopped playing for a gap of 16 seasons beginning in 1994. ... Chambers said there is interest to continue the rivalry.
First Published December 11, 2011 12:00 am
